Following protests of fraud, election authorities have agreed to recount some of the votes.

Election authorities in Mexico on Wednesday July 4, 2012 announced a recount of votes cast at more than half the polling stations in last Sunday's presidential election after finding inconsistencies. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the leftist PRD party had demanded a total recount after initial results put him in second place.

The BBC quoted the Executive Secretary of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE), Edmundo Jacobo as saying the recount was an exercise in openness and transparency. According to the country’s electoral law, votes should be recounted if there are inconsistencies in the final tally reports, the result shows a difference of one percentage point or less between the first and second-placed candidate and all the votes in one ballot box are cast in favour of the same candidate.

According to the Associated Press, AP news agency, of the 143,000 ballot boxes used, 78,012 will be opened and the votes recounted. Authorities will also recount 61 per cent of the ballot boxes in the vote for Senate seats and 60 per cent in the vote for the Lower House of Congress, Jacobo said. With 99 per cent of the vote tallied in the preliminary count, Enrique Peña Nieto of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, led with 38 per cent; while Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador of the Democratic Revolution Party had 32 per cent.

Obrador had earlier refused to accept the preliminary vote tallies, saying the election campaign was marred by overspending, vote-buying and favourable treatment of Peña Nieto by Mexico's television channels. The left-wing candidate claimed his team detected irregularities at 113,855 polling places.

Observers say there is a long legal process to go before any candidate is officially confirmed as Mexico's President-elect. The electoral commission has until September 6, 2012 to address complaints and formally announce a winner.